The Other Side of My Pillow

By Meliha Fazlic

Could even a war separate people that are meant to be together?

The Other Side of My Pillow tells a story in the authors own unique style, itwill leave an impact on you after reading it and for a long time to come. It will have you wonder about things you dont think about often, if ever. Moreover, it will also make you realize what lifes real treasures are.

The main character Alma, will be faced with numerous lifes obstacles that will turn her life drastically sour and drastically sweet thought-out the book. The adrenaline of a broken and cured heart will run up your spine as you live the dramatic situations along side Alma. The book promises tears of sorrow and tears of joy numerous times. Through Almas life youll find out some true facts about the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina as you live her life full of change, chance and choices. The driving force of the main character is definitely love. A love for her family and friends, love for her country and love for a man that shell never let go off, no matter how impossible a chance for happiness seemed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 18, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452024523

Meliha Fazlic

If life was measured by life experiences, Meliha would be decades older then she really is. Through a life that spread across continents, across events that changed the world around us, Meliha had a unique opportunity to express her creativity through different writing opportunities. Even though she has been an active free lance journalist amongst other aspirations, The Other Side of My Pillow is her first book. Her work comes from her heart as she tries to turn peoples experiences into a written word, that will live forever and serve as her way of learning from the history of life, and all that surrounds us.

Book preview

The Other Side

–— of –—

My Pillow

Meliha Fazlic

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2010 Meliha Fazlic. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 5/11/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4520-2452-3 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4520-2451-6 (sc)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 1

An elderly, petite, gray haired nurse walked in to the hospital room. She quietly glided across the room to the window and smiled at the little girl that was lying down in a spacious hospital bed. As she opened up the blinds to let the sun in, the nurse said:

Ooh, what a charming little girl you are, how old are you darling?

With a smile on her face, Nina slowly turned her head towards the nurse and in her broken German said:

I am six and a half.

Wow, you’re a big girl now, when are you starting school? Nurse asked.

Nina made a sad face and looked toward her mother.

Her mother Alma was sitting next to her, holding Nina’s hand and starring out the window, her mind was elsewhere.

Then, through the haze of her thoughts, Alma heard Nina say:

Mama, when will I start school?

Alma smiled gradually and said:

Soon baby, soon. As soon as you get better.

Alma leaned over Nina, gave her a kiss, covered her and quickly left the room, hiding the tears in her eyes.

The nurse checked Nina’s insulin fluid, gave her some coloring books and said:

Now dear, you just relax and I will be right back.

As the nurse was quietly making her way out of Nina’s room, she saw Alma on the bench near the door, sobbing.

Ooh, dear don’t be so sad. I am sure everything will be fine. The doctor is going to operate on her tomorrow, and I’ll be here all night making sure she stays well.

Said the nurse, as she placed her arm around Alma’s shoulder.

Alma started to calm down a bit. She felt helpless for not being able to help her daughter through such a difficult stage of her life. While still sobbing she said:

Thank you so very much, you are so kind. It’s just that there is nothing I can do to help her.

Well, I am sure you’ve tried everything you could, and I would like to recommend you to get a physical exam as well, you know leukemia could be something she got from your side of the family.

Said the nurse

Alma took a deep breath and said:

She is adopted.

She stood up and looked through the glass door. Seeing Nina was asleep, she sat back down on the bench with slight relief. Remembering how happy she felt when Nina legally became her daughter and even thought she knew that she couldn’t do much to protect her from such illness she still felt guilty that Nina was sick.

Surprised, the nurse said:

Wow, I could never tell. She looks just like you. Same eyes, same curly hair. It must be fate that you’ve found her.

As Alma slowly made a smile remembering how they met, she said:

Yes, I know she looks just like me. I was only in College when I adopted her. She lost her parents while we were in the war, in Bosnia & Herzegovina. I grew so attached to her that there was no way I was going to be apart from her.

Interested in the story Alma was telling, the nurse quickly said:

Well, with all my years hearing all the people’s stories that’s a story I haven’t heard yet.

Making herself comfortable on the slightly uncomfortable wooden bench, nurse continued:

You know, ever since the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany hasn’t been the same. I have met so many great people that came here. Most of them are refugees, but I also met civilians that were hurt while being chased out of their homes, the destruction moving from city to city. Oh how sad I was while I watched it on TV at home, and then I would come here to work and see the whole story again, but live and uncensored.

She exhaled and shook her head; the drama and terror of people’s lives in the war started coming back to her.

All this time trying to be strong, not showing her vulnerability at a time like this Alma couldn’t help but tear up again:

There were so many tragic stories. I think I might have had one of those too. I lost my youth, lost my innocence. Nevertheless, I think that there were two things I might have gotten that were extraordinary, and I am truly grateful for them. Nina being one and… Alma paused…Well, Nina is the only good thing that came out of my struggle while suffering through that miserable war. The other one is lost. Now my only hope is that Nina will be OK.

The nurse placed her hands together as she felt her pain, leaning her head to one side she said:

Oh, my poor girl, how sad. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be alright, life has its ways and I am sure that something good will come out of all of this.

The nurse sat on the bench for a minute, looking at Alma, as she was lost somewhere in her thoughts. Then, intrigued by Alma’s story she politely asked:

If you don’t mind of course, what is the other thing?

She turned towards the nurse, and confusedly asked:

What other thing?

The other extraordinary thing. The thing you lost.

Alma smiled, she paused for a moment took a deep breath and quietly said:

I’ve lost the only man I have ever truly loved. The only man that saw me for who I was, for everything I was and he loved it all, so much. I know how ridiculous this sounds, but I only new him a couple of days. And there it was, he was gone, out of my live, just like that faith took him away from me. He never came back.

Still smiling and placing her arms around her chest as if she was trying to hug someone she continued.

I could have not been truly in love, but how can I still feel like this after it’s been so long. I don’t even know his last name. It was like one of those dreams that you never want to wake up from, do you know what I mean?

Don’t say that it wasn‘t love, love knows no boundaries; I truly know what you mean. The heart doesn’t ask for your permission to love somebody. My husband and I have been married for more then fifty years now. And I couldn’t imagine my life without him. And believe it or not, I only knew him for a week before we got married. Its called fate, dear, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Nurse just sat there and for a moment, as she remembered when she met her husband for the first time. And then she continued.

Oh, look at me; just babbling about my life story and what I really want is to hear about yours.

Alma smiled, but she hesitated to talk about her life. She just didn’t want to relive everything again; she was just so tired of analyzing everything over and over again. Trying to find the answers to her hopeless questions. She looked at the nurse, and seeing her bright blue eyes that were so anxious to find out more, she decided that there would be no harm in telling someone who could actually understand. And who knew, maybe this time around she was to find the lost peace of the puzzle and her happiness again.

Well, my life is so complicated that no matter how many times I think about it all still doesn’t make sense. You see, I was deeply in love with my long time boyfriend before I met Alen. It made no sense to me then how can I be in love with two people at the same time. And today, I am left all alone, one got married and the other disappeared into thin air.

Alma said.

Excited to hear more the nurse then swiftly stood up and said:

Alma, this is getting very interesting, I must hear all about it. I am going to check on few patients now, make us some coffee and I will be right back. Don’t you go anywhere, this is the only thing we’ll do tonight, talk, talk and talk some more.

Alma smiled and told the nurse she’d be in Nina’s room.

About an hour latter, the nurse walked into Nina’s room, carrying two hot cups of coffee. Alma was lying down next to Nina, caressing Nina’s hair while she slept.

Is she still asleep? The nurse asked.

Smiling, Alma said:

Yes, she had asked me a million questions about school and then she finally got tired and fell asleep.

Alma kissed Nina and sat on the chair next to the bed. The nurse handed her a cup of coffee and sat down on a chair across Alma.

Thank you for the coffee, I needed this. I have been so worried about her I don’t remember when I last ate.

Said Alma.

You are very welcome darling, it’s the least I can do, I know how difficult this must be, but I want to assure you that Dr. Kovach is the best surgeon around and that he took this time away from his family vacation to make sure that he himself performs the surgery. Besides, Nina is very lucky to have been able do get a bone marrow donor so quickly, she is still in the early stages of leukemia.

Alma took a sip of the coffee and feeling a dose of relief said,

That is reassuring. I only wish I could do something for him in return.

The nurse placed her hand on Alma’s shoulder and with a calming voice full of comfort said:

Now, you don’t worry about that, you did everything you needed to do. All you need to do now is be calm and optimistic; because now that is the only way you’ll be of help to Nina. Optimism radiates from people and helps create good vibes all around them. Now, let’s get back to the story. Tell me everything from the beginning; I want to hear about your whole life, where you lived, what happened in the war, how you ended up with Nina and of course about the love of your life.

Alma smiled again and started to tell her the story. This, she thought, would be a better way to spend her evening, rather than to worry about Nina’s surgery tomorrow.

Chapter 2

I always thought that there was no better place in the world to live then my country. O that magic that blends our high mountains and the deep seas, green plantations and beautiful older buildings. The wholesomeness of the people was so obvious that the main attribute that tourists would say when they visited is how nice the people were. Nowhere else in the world, you will find so many religions intersecting with one another, in one small place, in peace and harmony. No postcard could ever capture all the beauty of my country. There truly were many changes in the history of my country but I think that is what makes it so unique and special. The sad part is that belief of how great our country was began to change in some people eyes and the greediness of certain individuals attempted in whipping our happiness away.

Mornings were always my favorite; Sarajevo was always so peaceful and fresh in the morning. You could hear nothing but birds in the morning, sometimes I needed to set two alarms just to get my self to wake up, I guess I wore off my snooze button. My parents and I made it a tradition to always eat breakfast together, talk about everything and make plans for our weekend getaways. However, lately the only subject that came up was the politics. It seemed that someone did not like our blissful lives. Every morning we would see news and nothing but politicians arguing on it. I left my home that morning to school not knowing that my life will completely change that day.

Good Morning Mrs. Delic, how are you?

I said to the elderly woman whose main entertainment was hanging on the window, watch and comment on everything and everybody passing by. Sweet old lady, always had something nice to say.

Good Morning Alma, are you going to school again? Its almost over you know, no more school, and then you can enjoy your life.

O, I am doing ok, I am getting a little older so every bone in my body hurts.

Said Mrs. Delic, as she was watering her plants on the window.

She was 92, and I had never seen anybody older then her. Her husband was a famous portrait painter and always used her as his muse. Despite her old age, she always managed to be happy and to make a day a little happier for everybody passing by.

Well, you take care of your self Mrs. Delic, I have to go to school,